Max Verstappen his started his Formula 1 title defence in commanding fashion this morning after cruising to Bahrain Grand Prix victory over teammate Sergio Perez.
Fernando Alonso wound back the clock to round out the podium making for a solid start to the season for Aston Martin who have evidently bridged the gap to the top three constructors.
The highly anticipated Red Bull against Ferrari battle for overall supremacy never had the opportunity to eventuate as Verstappen immediately pulled away off pole, Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc instead battling with Perez off the start with the latter taking second off the Mexican into Turn 1.
This gave Leclerc the opportunity to go about hunting down Verstappen in front but he wasn’t able to match pace, the defending champion four seconds clear after just five laps.
Perez had held off Sainz- just- off the start and was running third at this point, his focus now on retaking second spot off Leclerc which he managed to do on his second stint on soft tyres as Ferrari elected for hards.
It appeared the podium was set by Lap 40 as the front three of Verstappen, Perez and Leclerc had pulled over 10 seconds clear of Sainz but it wasn’t to be for Ferrari as reliability issues crept in and forced Leclerc out on Lap 41. He lost power at this point and pulled off on the straight following the final corner.
That left Sainz running third, only for a charging Alonso to put all his experience in action and take the final podium spot just four laps later.
That was how it remained up front, Verstappen taking honours over his teammate by nearly 12 seconds with Alonso rounding out the podium a massive 27 seconds further back.
Sainz held on for fourth to offer some respite for Ferrari as the reliability woes of old returned for the manufacturer.
Lewis Hamilton had briefly threatened for that spot in the dying stages only for Sainz to cover well and hold position, the seven-time world champion forced to settle for fifth.
Lance Stroll made for a great Grand Prix for Aston Martin to finish sixth despite Lap 1 contact with his own teammate Alonso which left debris on circuit and briefly triggered localised yellows. This allowed both Mercedes through and triggered a race long battle largely influenced by strategy between the two manufacturers.
Alonso took a position back off Russell after the first round of stops and went about setting some great pace through the mid-stages of the race. Purple sectors were in order which saw the two-time world champion pass the seven-time champion on Lap 38.
Leclerc’s failure promoted the Spaniard up a spot to fourth with Sainz ahead and in his sights. Lap 45 was where he got the move done after a two lap battle to move into third and secure his first podium since Qatar 2021.
Elsewhere, it was Russell who held on for seventh, one spot to the good over Valtteri Bottas who ran a superb race complimented by a blistering start.
Pierre Gasly began his Alpine tenure well, finishing in the points with ninth despite starting at the rear of the grid.
Alex Albon rounded out the top 10 for Williams, a sole point in the season-opener offering a glimpse of hope for the outfit which has struggled in recent years.
Yuki Tsunoda finished 11th for AlphaTauri, one spot ahead of top rookie Logan Sargeant.
Haas ran into difficulties despite looking good during pre-season testing and qualifying, Kevin Magnussen their top placed driver in 13th after running an alternate strategy to the field and being the sole drivers to start on hards.
Nyck De Vries was 14th in his AlphaTauri debut with Nico Hulkenberg finishing a spot behind with a 5 second penalty despite a strong qualifying performance.
A last lap stop saw Zhou Guanyu finish 16th, one position to the good over Lando Norris.
It’s ominous signs for McLaren who suffered slow race pace and weren’t helped by a slow stop which saw Norris tumble down the order to finish 17th.
There were three non-finishers in the event, Oscar Piastri the first to retire on Lap 13 with electrical issues. Esteban Ocon was the other DNF, joining Leclerc and Piastri early in pitlane.
A comical run of penalties was the cause of misery for the Alpine driver, caused by overshooting his grid slot at the start. He was awarded 5 seconds for this and was deemed to not serve this correctly, resulting in a further 10 seconds added. Speeding in the lane added to his misery and added a further 5 seconds to his time and led to Alpine eventually retiring his car.
Formula 1 next returns with the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix in a fortnights time.
